bubbleguppiesfanonfandomcom-20200214-history
Jupiter Babies
Jupiter Babies * Season #: 6 * Season Ep #: 4 * Overall Ep #: 97 Plot Cotton Puffy babysits the twin toddlers of Mr and Mrs Jupiter, but he finds the task much harder than he thought. Episode (Opening shot: fade in to a hospital at daytime. Zoom in slowly and dissolve to the CandyCake Guppies, chattering excitedly while gathered outside the long window of the maternity ward. Vanilla, Choco, and Rainbow hover above the others. Cut to Lollipop, Caramel, and Cinnamon, seen from inside. Their voices are slightly muffled.) * [Caramel Cider] "Can you believe the new baby is finally here?" (Soft gasp from Lollipop.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Mayor Jupiter and his wife must be so proud!" * [Cinnamon Buns] "I wonder if it's a boy or a girl." (Pan to the other three. Cotton Puffy, at the far ends, puts his face excitedly against the pane.) * [Cotton Puffy] "I want to see the new baby! I want to see! Which one is it?" (Cut to the inside the ward and zoom in slowly over the rows of bassinets toward the mayor, who stands over one of them. Close-up.) * [Mayor Jupiter] (softly) "Meet our son..." (pulling blanket down) "...Blackjack." (The movement exposes a sleeping, pale-yellow newborn colt dressed in the equivalent of footie pajamas, light blue, with a hood that has openings for the ears. A tuft of orange mane peeks out from the hood's edge. Newborn Blackjack yawns, a pair of tiny wings twitch out from his back to mark him as a pegasus. Cut to the twelve guppies, seen from inside.) * [CandyCake Guppies] "Awww..." (Back to the mayor; he turns to the other side.) * [Mayor Jupiter] (turning to the bassinet behind him) "And our daughter..." (pulling blanket down) ".. Roulette." (The newborn is a lavender unicorn filly in pink four-footie pjs; the bit of mane under her hood is dark blue. She yawns and starts sucking peacefully on a front hoof. Back to the ward side of the window.) * [CandyCake Guppies] "Huh?" * [Cotton Puffy] "Two new babies for me to play with?" (Gasp.) "That two, two, two times the fun!" (The others glace his way, puzzled.) "This is the greatest day ever!" (He darts out of view and is inside the room an instant later, wearing a party hat and with a noisemaker clamped in his teeth.) * [Cotton Puffy] "We need to celebrate you birthday, babies, 'cause you were just born today! Woo-hoo!" (He sucks in a lot of air, intending to let it go through the noisemaker, but Cauliflower arrives in a flash.) * [Dr Cauliflower] "Shhh! The babies are trying to sleep." * [Cotton Puffy] "But I was just ---" * [Dr Cauliflower] "Shhh!" * [Cotton Puffy] (dropping noisemaker) "But ---" * [Dr Cauliflower] "Shhh!" (The party guppy glances in the departing doctor's direction, then slips between the two newborns and starts to sing quietly.) * [Cotton Puffy] (sing-song, quietly) "Happy, happy birthday to you and you today." (A threatening look from Cauliflower stops him cold before he can get another line out. He lets off a deflated little moan; cut to the hall as he is flipped off the head into the floor. Blueberry turns his attention to the twins.) * [Blueberry Jam] "Now how are one of the twins a pegasus and the other one a unicorn?" (Zoom out to frame the mayor standing over them.) * [Mayor Jupiter] "Easy. My great-great-great-great-great-grandmother was a pegasus, and Franny Jupiter's great-aunt's third brother twice removed was a unicorn. That makes sense, right?" (The ward side of the window.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Aw, yeah!" (laughing) "Just you wait. Once little Blackjack there gets his wings going..." (zipping back and forth) "...he'll be all over the place!" * [Snicker Doodle] "And be careful around Roulette." * [Gelatin Soft] "Baby unicorns get strange magical surges that come and go." (As the mayor leans over Blackjack, Cotton springs up with a fully decorated chocolate cake.) * [Cotton Puffy] (softly) "Quick! Make a wish and blow out your candles --- which is easy, 'cause there are zero candles! You are zero years old, after all!" (Cauliflower leans in.) * [Dr Cauliflower] "Shhh!" (His shushing causes him to twitch backward slightly and hit herself in the face with the cake. He ends up with a sheepish grin framed by chocolate icing around his mouth and a beard/mustache of white from the cake's trim. Fade to black.) ---------- (Fade in to the exterior of the mayor's home during the day and zoom in slowly. A cut to the floor frames the mayor levitating a large box of diapers, while his wife levitates a smaller box of sweets. Blackjack and Roulette are near the stairs and gurgling happily; wears a diaper and party hat. Blackjack's eyes are dark red-violet, Roulette's mossy green, and the latter sports a small pink bow in her mane. She takes a few tottering steps and falls on her belly before Cotton bursts in from the kitchen, a cake with a large 1 candle balanced on his head. He hops cheerfully over to the pair and starts to sing. He lets the cake drop and sticks a noisemaker in each foal's mouth.) [Cotton Puffy] Happy month-iversary to you and you today! (Rapid fire.) I can't believe you're already a month old! Time sure flies, doesn't it? Wow, it seems like only yesterday you were born! But now you're a month old today, hey! (Both twins blow their noisemakers and jump up onto him with a laugh. He floats happily across the room, then pitches to the floor on his back with them landing on his front side; the party hats tumbled away as the mayor sets down a stack of boxes. He registers concern for a moment, but lets the thought drop with a smile and turns back to his work. Cotton pops up between the kids.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Are you ready for your favorite-est game in the whole wide world?" (He divs through the batwing doors leading into a storage room, then hangs his hands over the top edges once they stop swinging.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Where's Cotton Puffy?" (He opens them and shove his head out.) "Here I am!" (Close.) "Where's Cotton Puffy?" (Open.) "Here I am!" (Cut to the two seated babies.) * [Cotton Puffy] (from o.s.) "Where's Cotton Puffy?" (shoving head into view) "Here I am!" (They cheer and laugh, and he pulls his head back; cut to inside the storage room. Mrs Jupiter is looking over the stocked shelves as the game continues.) * [Cotton Puffy] (shoving head out) "Here I am!" (Pan slightly away to put him out of view as the mayor enters; he is levitating a stack of boxes of pastries, which he uses as a table.) * [Cotton Puffy] (from o.s.) "Here I am!" (Cut to frame him; he bounds out.) "Here I am!" (The smile on the mayor's face gives away to a worried frown that perfectly matches the one his wife has assumed. On the office floor, Cotton blows a vigorous raspberry at the kids.) * [Mrs Jupiter] "Everything okay in there?" (sing-song) "Who needs a diaper change?" * [Cotton Puffy] (ditto) "Don't worry! They're fine!" (Lifting Blackjack into view, he is immediately proven wrong when some rather nasty fume begins rising from the colt's rump and he gets a lungful.) * [Cotton Puffy] (revolted) "Ooh! I mean..." (The mayor bursts in from the storage room levitating two fresh diapers.) * [Mayor Jupiter] (chuckling) "Oh, I've got it." (He lays Blackjack and Roulette side by side on an open patch of countertop, and the camera shifts to frame him. A few seconds of o.s. legerdemain leaves the two soiled diapers levitated; he quickly drops them into an open trash can whose lid is now slam shut. Next a can of baby powder is deployed, followed by some more horn-and-hoof manipulation that puts the clean ones where they ought to be. Close-up on the two gurgling newborns, then zoom out to frame Cotton looking at them while the mayor washes at the sink.) * [Mayor Jupiter] "Is anybody hungry?" * [Cotton Puffy] "Oh, no thanks. I just had a big breakfast." (The mayor throws him a funny look as his wife enters from the storage room, levitating two bottles.) * [Mrs Jupiter] "I'm on it!" (She levitaties the bottles and they drop precisely into the twins' mouths, nibble first, and both start sucking merrily away. Cotton regards them with growing impatience, even going so far as to check a wristwatch on one hand. A close-up of this shows his smiling face, surrounded by confetti and streamers, in the 12:00 position.) (In close-up, Blackjack and Roulette sit up, their bottles now empty and their smiles giving way to looks of general distress. Cotton eyes them quizzically before breaking out in a huge smile.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Oh, oh! You're making funny faces! I have one!" (He bugs one eye open and lets his tongue hang loose; no effect.) * [Mayor Jupiter] (from o.s., chuckling) "No, you see, Cotton..." (Cut to him.) "...the babies need to be burped." (He scoops them up, leans one over each shoulder, and starts patting both tiny backs at once. Simultaneously, a double-barreled belch brings great revulsion to Choco's face for a brief moment; then he brightened immediately afterward.) * [Cotton Puffy] "All set now? Everything good?" (rearing up) "Okay, who wants to play again?" (He zips off, the kids jumping down from the mayor's arms and tottering eagerly after him. Blackjack stumbles and falls near a stack of blocks; he eyes these critically, then stands up on his hind legs and knocks them over. Before he could fall backward onto his rump, Mrs Jupiter dives low to catch him.) * [Mrs Jupiter] "Ah-ah-ah, Blackjack." (She straightens up.) "No pounding things." (He smiles. Now Roulette, still following Cotton, stops by the dropped baby powder can and gets its end in her mouth. After a moment sucking or gumming, the mayor walks up, clicks his tongue reprovingly, and takes it away levitating.) * [Mayor Jupiter] (from o.s.) "Ah-ah-ah." (Cut to frame all four Jupiters.) "We don't chew on things, Roulette." (Cotton swims over to them.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Except food!" (The mayor drops the can with a shocked gasped.) * [Mrs Jupiter] "Oh! Food! Great red spots, I completely forgot!" * [Cotton Puffy] "Dudes, you just fed 'em bottles, remember?" * [Mrs Jupiter] "It's not that!" * [Mayor Jupiter] "The food for the enormously big catering order we have to deliver today!" (Cut to Cotton and Roulette, trading puzzled looks.) * [Mrs Jupiter] (from o.s.) "Oh, with the new twins, we've been so distracted!" (Back to the couple; she slings up a pair of baby carriers.) * [Mayor Jupiter] "Quick, Franny!" (setting Blackjack in one of them) "We need to find a babysitter to watch the foals while we take care of this!" (The two head for the door once Roulette has been slung up; pan back to an eager Cotton.) * [Cotton Puffy] "I could do it! I want to do it! Oh, the babies love playing with me! I'll do it!" (Outside, the Jupiters head down the street and their fastest trot.) * [Mrs Jupiter] "I wonder who would be available on such short notice." * [Cotton Puffy] (hopping after them) "Me! Me! Pick me!" (Wipe to the exterior of the Rainbow House. The family is at the front door, which is open with Sugar and Lemon floating.) * [Lemon Drop] "Oh! We would love to babysit." (Broad smiles on the couple.) "But I'm sorry. We can't today. We're going on a picnic with our animal friends." (The Jupiters dejectedly take their leave.) * [Sugar Pie] "But you understand, do you? You're not mad at me, are you? Please don't be mad at me!" * [Lemon Drop] "Sugar Pie!" (Cotton pops up, cradling Cranberry and rocking him vigorously.) * [Cotton Puffy] "I'll do it! Pick me!" (Wipe to the exterior of the town library, then cut to Lollipop and the Jupiters inside. She shakes her head sadly.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Snicker and I have to continue with book traveling." (The camera pans to Snicker, with a backpack full of materials. The Jupiters hurry out, paying no mind to Cotton, who has put a diaper on the book he holds and is rocking it.) * [Cotton Puffy] "I want to babysit! Pick me!" (Wipe to the foursome standing by a tree in an ice cream watermelon field. Caramel and Blueberry are each carrying one.) * [Blueberry Jam] "Babysit? Now?" * [Caramel Cider] "When there's a swarm of hungry caterpillars headin' this way?" * [Blueberry Jam] "We have to gather all these ice cream watermelons before they get swarmed on!" (A young alien helps him carry a huge melon. The family heads out -- with Cotton darting in out of nowhere and being disregarded as before. Now he has a pile of small melons in his arms and again goes too far in rocking them.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Ooh, ooh! I want to do it!" (He goes too far that the melons begin to fall from his grasp. Wipe to Vanilla, Rainbow, and Choco perched on a cloud and shaking their heads down at the Jupiters.) * [Vanilla Cake] "I got tickets to an air show this afternoon." * [Choco, Vanilla, Rainbow] "Gotta dash!" (All three take off with enough speed to vaporize the cloud and leave two yellow unicorn parents goggling after them. Cut to Cotton nearby, with a diapered cloud resting on a hand.) * [Cotton Puffy] (holding it up) "Ask me!" (singing, tossing it back and forth overhead) "Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me..." (The display ends when he forgets to catch the cloud and it bursts apart upon hitting the ground. He then bails out at top speed. Wipe to Cinnamon and Gelatin, just inside the town restaurant and looking at the beseeching Jupiters.) * [Cinnamon Buns] "Us? Babysit?" * [Cinnamon, Gelatin] "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." (They leave, crestfallen.) * [Gelatin Soft] "We are flattered that you would think about us, thought." (Outside, Mr and Mrs Jupiter hang their heads in defeat but find Cotton rising slowly into view before them, his biggest whitest, most knowing grin plastered firmly onto his face, much to the couple's unease. They trade a worried look over the tense silence, while the babies smile from behind Mrs Jupiter's shoulders; the mayor is first to break the silence.) * [Mayor Jupiter] "Cotton Puffy..." (Cut to him, smile widening; he continues o.s.) "...how would you like to babysit for us?" (The request causes his eyes to grow wide, and he gasps deeply. He lets the enthusiasm vanish as quickly as it came, replacing it with false apathy.) * [Cotton Puffy] "I don't know. I'll have to check my schedule." (He takes his time inspecting a front hand, then gives them a small smile. Dissolve to the batwing doors leading to the storage room of the Jupiters' home; these burst open as the camera zoom out slightly. Mrs Jupiter gallops out, levitating a stack of boxes, followed by the mayor levitating a short, unfrosted, two-layer cake. Cotton and the kids watch, and the kids laugh as their mother races back in.) * [Mayor Jupiter] (hopping nervously) "Now, Cotton, are you sure you really understand the responsibility of watching over two babies?" (His wife charges out with more boxes.) * [Cotton Puffy] "I can be responsible. Why, Responsibility is my middle name! Cotton Responsibility Puffy!" (Mrs Jupiter zips up into his face.) * [Mrs Jupiter] "But this time you need to take care of them, not just play with them. You have to be responsible." * [Cotton Puffy] "Yes, I know. I will." (saluting) "I am!" (The ring of an o.s. bell sends Mrs Jupiter racing off past the small caregiver. She immediately returns, pushing a dolly that holds a cake nearly twice as tall as the on the mayor brought out. A scroll rests at the edge of one layer. A quick nip sends the document flying towards Cotton; follow it over to him as it hits the floor and unrolls several feet worth of notes.) * [Mrs Jupiter] (from o.s.) "All of your responsibilities are on this list." (Zoom out slightly.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Woah!" (eyeing it closely) "That's a lotta responsi ---" (He stops short, straightens up, and salutes.) "Consider it done." (The unnerved mother stares back in his direction, but is interrupted when Mr Jupiter leans into view behind the massive dessert.) * [Mayor Jupiter] "We'll frost it when we get there!" (pulling it ahead) "Come on, Franny! Let's go!" (He darts off; Cotton pushes her ahead. Cut to just outside the front door as she emerges onto the step.) * [Mrs Jupiter] "Take good care of our two precious little cuties." (Cotton nudges her ahead and o.s.) * [Cotton Puffy] "No problemo, Mr and Mrs Jupiter! Everything is under control!" (Cut to just behind him as the couple depart, Mr Jupiter pulling a cart that holds the giant cake. After they have gone, he closes the door and turns toward the infants; they stare up at him with steadily building worry. His big silly grin is met with a loud outburst of crying. Cut to just behind them, zooming in slowly on one guppy who had just realized that this will get messy.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Uh-oh." (Snap to black.) ---------- (Fade in to a flustered Cotton Puffy and the crying twins.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Uhh...don't cry, little friends." (pointing ahead) "Look! Look!" (He races across the room and hides behind the storage room doors.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Where's Cotton Puffy? Where's Cotton Puffy?" (Blackjack and Roulette trade a bewildered look, then start crying again; he peeks out over the doors' top edge.) *[Cotton Puffy] "No no!" (He bursts through.) "I'm right here, see?" (He made silly faces; still nothing.) *[Cotton Puffy] (to himself) "Shoot...think, think, think!" (Idea strikes.) "Yes!" (Wipe to the darkened storage room. Blackjack and Roulette, both completely confused, are pushed into view to sit at a little table set with a vase of flowers.) *[Cotton Puffy] (from o.s.) "Hey, watch this!" (Cut to just behind the table. In front of them is a red curtain backdrop, a broom, and a stool; the blue and pink haired boy floats into view with a spotlight following him. Applause from an unseen audience accompanies his arrival, and he grabs the broom to use its handle end as a microphone.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Hey, you're a wonderful crowd here tonight!" (holding end out to kids) "Where y'all from?" (Roulette opens her mouth to answer, but no sound comes out. Cotton yanks the "mic" up to himself.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Wow, that's great. You know, I used to have an ant farm, but I had to get rid of it because I couldn't find tractors that small!" (An o.s. drum kit plays a quick strong to emphasize the punchline, but the response is only a pair of big, puzzled stares and silence.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Get it? Tractors that small?" (Still nothing.) "The other day, I spilled spot remover on my cat -- and now I can't find her!" (He zips over to a snare drum and cymbal set up in a corner to play the sting himself this time, getting only a fresh fit of crying.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Ooof, tough crowd. Well! I wasn't gonna pull of the showstopper --" (ducking partway through curtain, head still exposed) "-- but you're a lovely audience and I think you deserve it!" (Retreating entirely behind the curtain, he pokes his head back out a moment later with a pair of rubber wolf ears on his head.) ~ (Song begins) ~ (He bounces across the stage on his tail.) [Cotton Puffy] If you're happy and you know it, shake your tail! Shake shake shake! If you're happy and you know it, shake your tail! Shake shake shake! If you're happy and you know, and you really wanna show! If you're happy and you know it, shake your tail! Shake shake shake! (Zips to the twins, surprising them into silence.) If you're happy and you know it, stomp your paws! Stomp stomp stomp! If you're happy and you know it, stomp your paws! Stomp stomp stomp! If you're happy and you know, and you really wanna show it! If you're happy and you know it, stomp your paws! Stomp stomp stomp! (The twins reactions deteriorates from confusion to crying.) If you're happy and you know it, howl out loud! OOOOOOOOO! If you're happy and you know it, howl out loud! OOOOOOOOO! If you're happy and you know, and you really wanna show it! If you're happy and you know it, howl out loud! OOOOOOOOO! (He accidentally skids and thumps against a cabinet, losing the rubber ears and jostling a bucket of blue paint loose so that it falls on his head.) ~ (Song ends) ~ (Blue paint splash out in all directions and clear to show that every square inch of the little guppy is entirely covered except the blue of his eyes. Blackjack and Roulette fall silent, then break into happy laughter at the sight.) *[Cotton Puffy] (wearily) "There. See? Nothing to this babysitting business." (He keels over backwards. Dissolve to a close-up of the end of the very long note, resting on the floor, and tilt up to frame him clean of paint. The other end is taped to the storage room cabinet; he is studying it intently. The lights are back on.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Snack time. That's easy enough." (Cut to inside the cabinet as he opens it and looks in, finding two bowls of soft food. Blackjack and Roulette have been placed in adjacent high chairs, the colt banging on his tray and the filly sucking her hoof. Zoom out as Cotton arrives with the food.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Okey-dokey." (He serves each.) "Eat up." (Four big eyes just stare up at him; he smiles and hoists and empty bowl.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Like this." (pantomiming eating) "Nom-nom-nom, nom-nom-nom-nom! Ahhh!" (Blackjack just stares at him; his sister, on the other hand, stretches her mouth wide and leans in slowly toward her bowl. Cotton smiles hugely at the sight -- and then Roulette leans far enough to knock the food off her tray. She comes up with a hem of the cloth on a nearby table and starts gnawing on it. A vase of flowers gets dragged along for the ride as Blackjack rocks his bowl back and forth.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Roulette! We eat food --" (pulling cloth off table and out of reach) "-- not tablecloths." (Roulette reacts by crying. Blackjack by banging his front hooves on the tray so that his bowl flips up and empties itself over his head. The decibels are quickly doubled for the benefit of their frustrated babysitter.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Uh, hey, guys, look at me!" (A quick trip to the cabinet yields a bucket full of yellow paint; which he dumps all over himself. The suddenly quiet kids start laughing.) *[Cotton Puffy] (dryly) "Yeah. I think I can see where this is going." (A spit throws out another burst of paint from his mouth. Dissolve to the faucet and of the bathtub, which is filling with steaming sudsy water; now cleaned up, he leans into view and turns it off with his hands. Zoom out to frame Blackjack and Roulette in front of the tub, both stripped off their diapers. They jump up with a happy yell and race off, with Cotton in hot pursuit. Roulette starts chewing on a towels to boot.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Towels are not food, Roulette!" (Roulette yanks the towel from its rack and races off with it alongside Blackjack. The chase resumes.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Drop it! Drop it!" (He skids to a stop by the tub.) "Drop it!" (The room has suddenly gone quiet, so he looks around with growing panic. Cut to the medicine cabinet; a tuft of orange tail can be seen dangling from behind its door, and Cotton approaches with caution. A laugh from inside catches his attention and his eyes met at the exposed tail. When he opens the door, he is met by the sight of both twins standing on their hind legs, side by side -- but only for a moment, as they dart away. Roulette, however, has dropped the towel. The camera now cuts to the shower curtain and th eight little hooves visible beneath its hem; he moves in, and the view shifts to the twins' side as he slides it open with a big smile. Outside it again; they barrel away below him, but he quickly nips them by the tails and deposits them in the tub at last. His reward is a fresh wave of screams and tears.) *[Cotton Puffy] (fishing around in water) "Hey, hey, look!" (Holds up a handful of...) "Bubbles!" (A gentle puff of air sends them floating overhead to mollify the pair. Cotton splashes again, generating more bubbles and putting a beard of soap suds on his face. Everything is sweetness and light until a very large bubble bursts on Roulette's horn and the crying starts again. The frazzled guppy shakes himself clean.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Don't cry." (showing them a rubber duckie) "Look! Look!" (He gives it a squeeze to make it squeak; cut to the water as it is placed on the surface.) *[Cotton Puffy] (from o.s.) "Wow, floaty things! Ooh, ahh!" (His nervous laugh is met by the twins' happy reaction to the bath toy, and he smiles shrewdly and begins to bring more in, dropping each into the tub. A penguin, sponge, inflatable crab, beach ball, tugboat, snorkel with mask, rubber life raft. Each other is bigger than the last; by the time Cotton is finished, there is so much junk stuffed into the tub that the twins cannot be seen. He backs away and the camera cuts briefly to a close-up on them among all the toys before shifting back to Cotton. Zoom out slightly as they throw another tantrum, sending all the toys flying.) (He recoils in horror as a sudden realization strikes him; Blackjack's hooves are a little too close to the faucet. He bangs it with enough force to snap te pipe, sending a jet of water across the bathroom that drives Cotton out of sight. As it subsides, the camera pans in his direction to the door -- and the Cotton-silhouette hole that has just been punched out of it. The storage room is visible beyond this, and an irritated, sopping-wet guppy stick his head back in. He has yet a bucket of red paint dragged while glaring black toward the o.s. foals. Cut to the tub and zoom out slightly as he floats up and they go quiet.) *[Cotton Puffy] "You guys sure you want me to do this?" (Crying ensues -- so Cotton lets the bucket's contents shower down over himself. The kids find this hilarious; he does not.) (Dissolve to one section of the Jupiters' list and pan/zoom out slightly to show a cleaned-up Cotton studying it intently. His perusal is interrupted by some rather unpleasant fumes wafting his way; a sniff, a gasp, and the camera cuts to a longer shot as he covers his nose. She is now in a nursery, floating next to a dresser stacked with clean diapers. An open toy chest is by the door. The camera follows his glance across the room and stops at the twins, both wearing diapers that are in serious need of a change. Blackjack bangs a block against some others, while Roulette sucks on a pacifier.) * [Cotton Puffy] (nasally) "Smells like someone needs me to changey-wangey their diaper-wiper right now-a-wow!" (Uncovering his nose, he grabs two fresh diapers in his hands. As stealthily as he can, he works his way toward the pair, zig-zagging between their cribs until he can climb onto one and perch himself over its footboards.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Easy...easy..." (Ground level. The approach of his shadow attracts both noxious foals' attention, and they laugh and flee from him attempted diving tackle. He gets up, finds them nowhere in sight, and starts across the room with a sigh. A camera shift reveals that they have taken refuge behind the dresser; Roulette giggles to herself, the pacifier gone, and draws a glare and an irked snarl from Cotton. Out in the room, he charges in after them and the ensuing fracas is marked by laughs, shaking furniture, clouds of dust, and a couple of flying diapers.) * [Cotton Puffy] (from behind dresser) "Wait...don't...stay that..." (He puts his head up long enough to nip two fresh ones off the stack, then drops out of sight to resume the brawl.) * [Cotton Puffy] (from behind) "No, wait!" (The sound of a ratchet wrench starts to make its presence known now. Blackjack tries to crawl away, but Cotton drags him back.) * [Cotton Puffy] (from behind) "Just for a second..." (He puts his head up.) "Stand still, I've almost..." (Down again; a jackhammer is heard next, and the camera cuts to a hunkered-down Blackjack and Roulette as the ruckus dies away. Neither is wearing a diaper now, and the reasom becomes clear when they look up and the camera zooms out. Cotton has ended up with two on his head. His smug smile fades once he realizes how badly this endeavor has gone wrong, and the twins laugh and zip away.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Oh, you gotta be kidding me!" (The jingling of a bell at the front door brings up a relieved smile.) * [Cotton Puffy] (floating off) "Oh! Thank goodness they're home!" (Cut to a close-up of the door; seen from inside; he reaches into view and opens it to reveal Lollipop.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Hi." (Outside; Cotton puts his head out.) "I finished up the work I had to do, so I thought I'd stop by and see if you needed any help." (She is yanked in.) "Woah!" (Door slam. Cut to the pair on the office floor; the diaper on Cotton's head has ditched.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Thank you, thank you, thank you for coming! I can't begin to tell you what my day has been like! I mean, these babies just won't listen to reason -- and don't even get me started on their taste in stand-up comedy!" (A drum sting is played o.s.) * [Lollipop Pops] "It's okay, Cotton. I figured you would need some help. That's why I stopped by." * [Cotton Puffy] (offended) "What?!" * [Lollipop Pops] "Babies just take a lot of work. And some people are not cut out to handle the responsibility." (Cotton gets in her face.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Is that so?!" (Cut to the doorstep; the door is open again, and the well-meaning female guppy finds herself being plowed out onto it by one irked male guppy.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Well, thanks for stopping by, Lollipop. Sorry, I don't have time to visit. I'm very, very busy with my r''esponsibilities'' here." (He backs into the building.) * [Lollipop Pops] "I'm happy to help. It's no trouble --" (Any further words are cut off by the door being slammed into her face -- close enough, in fact, to squash her nose a bit. Inside, Cotton has his back to it sullenly.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Well, of all the --" (Sputter.) "She thinks I can't handle things on my own!" (dejectedly) "Maybe because I haven't handled things on my own." (After a moment's hard thought, he straightens up with a fierce new resolve.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Well, I can handle things on my own." (Wipe to the partly open nursery door, seen from inside. Happy gurgling is heard from o.s. as Cotton peeks in; cut to one crib, in which Blackjack is gleefully jumping on the mattress. A quick pan across the room frames Roulette having her own grand time chomping on a rubber chicken. Cotton pushes the door fully open and strides up to stare down the jumpy little pegasus.) * [Cotton Puffy] "BLACKJACK!" (He stops.) "This is a crib! It is only used for napping, sleeping, and on occasion with permission, as a pretend old-timely Western fort!" (Cut to him; he continues o.s.) "It's not a trampoline!" (leaning toward him) "So stop the jumping right now, mister!" (He is fixed with the hardest glare he can muster. Next their owner moves in on Roulette.) * [Cotton Puffy] "And you, young filly. We do not put anything in our mouth that we cannot safely and properly digest." (leaning close) "So stop slobbering on that toy this instant!" (Said young filly lets the rubber chicken fall from her mouth and allows Cotton to set her in the crib next to her brother.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Now, we have all had a very exhausting afternoon, and it's time for all good little kids to take their nap. So...fall asleep!" (Both foals regard him with dumbfounded, wide-eyed stares for a long moment, then drop onto their backs and start snoring. Cotton eyes them with a smile and relieved sigh, pulls a blanket up over them.) * [Cotton Puffy] (softly, tenderly) "Sleep tight." (Pulling the crib's drop-side up into place, he deposits a used diaper into a trash can and tosses the rubber chicken into a closet. The door is slid shut; cut to the hallway outside the nursery as the lights inside are sqitched off.) * [Cotton Puffy] (floating out) "Now that's what I call handling things." (Cut to just inside the door. He reaches back in to close it, the camera cutting to his perspective almost as soon as his hand touches the knob. Zoom in quickly on the crib in which he placed the twins; the drop-side is still up, but they are nowhere in sight, inside or out. Back to him, voicing a disbelieving gasp, and snap to black.) ---------- (Fade in to a close-up of the unoccupied crib and zoom out slowly to frame Cotton looking in, slack-jawed, from the doorway.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Oh, no, no, no, no. Not good, not good, not good!" (He flies over to the crib and lowers the drop-side.) "Blackjack? Roulette? Where are you?" (Cut to a pile of toys in one corner and zoom out as he leaps onto them; they go flying in all directions, but no twins are found.) * [Cotton Puffy] (trying to keep it together) "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" (Cut to another corner and pan slowly across the room as he frantically peeks in one place after another, with no luck. A toy's squeak draws his attention toward the shut closet; floating carefully to it, he slides the door open. Roulette is inside, nibbling happily at the rubber chicken.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Woah!" (He sets the little unicorn in a crib with the chicken.) * [Cotton Puffy] (raising drop-side) "You be a good little girl now, little Roulette, and stay in your crib for your pal Cotton-wotton." (Roulette clims up to the rail, then gives the toy another squeak with her teeth before Cotton cautiously turns away. The camera cuts to the hapless guppy and follows him for a short distance across the room; suddenly he stops, looks back, and sees Roulette still in the crib. The chicken's next squeak does not quite settle his mind, so he cuts his eyes away and back again just to make sure. Next Cotton slowly floats off; cut to the hallway as he emerges from the nursery.) *[Cotton Puffy] "Blackjack? Here, Blackjack!" (A chance breeze toys with the window curtains as the far end of the hall, and Cotton floats warily toward the disturbance. He is brought up short by a ghostly, babyish giggle that reverberates through the stillness; pan quickly back toward the nursery door, then tilt up to the ceiling and down to a stair railing. The nursery, therefore, is on a higher floor than the office. The giggle is heard again and again at different pitches, with the overall effect of leaving Cotton's nerves strung even tighter than they already were.) *[Cotton Puffy] (shuddering) "Blackjack?" (Blackjack's silhouette passes very close to the camera -- upside down, seemingly moving across the ceiling. After another shudder, the camera cuts to an overhead shot inside the nursery door as Cotton slinks back up; cut to his perspective of the room, with Roulette squeaking the rubber chicken in her crib and more creepy babyish laughter. Back to Cotton, now entering the room; Blackjack's upside-down form passes overhead with a sepulchral gigglel throwing a good stare into him.) (Roulette squeaks the chicken, but Cotton hears the sound at a lower pitch then usual due to the mental strain. Another laugh. A still lower squeak. Now Cotton apprehensively lifts his gaze upward as the giggle asserts itself again -- and a tilt up reveals the wayward pegasus casually walking around on the ceiling. He is using his wings to previde the lift needed to maintain this position, and he gurgles cheerfully down at the overstressed guppy, who yelps in surprise.) *[Cotton Puffy] "You can fly?!" (Blackjack giggles; lights flick on; he zips back and forth to grab him.) *[Cotton Puffy] "You...get over here...this instant...young...colt!" (He crashes into a wall, and ends up on the floor gasping for breath.) * [Cotton Puffy] "I'm responsible for you!" (Cut to a close-up of Blackjack and his tiny, beating wings; a sound like bubbles popping surprises him, and the camera zooms out and rotates 180 degrees. He is still upside down on the ceiling, Cotton is now up here as well, using suction cups on his hands. He fixes him with a fierce look, after which the view shifts to ground level and he carries him down the wall using his tail.) (Roulette, having dropped the rubber chicken, reaches through the bars of her crib toward a toy butterfly resting on the rail of Blackjack's. Backing away a step, she scrunches her face in fierce concentration and her stubby horn begins to glow; the magic takes hold of the plaything and lifts it clear, flapping the wings for good measure. Cotton is so flabbergasted that his tail and jaw drop, allowing Blackjack to tumble away -- but soon flutters.) (The butterfly floats across the nursery toward Roulette's crib, accompanied by a bird, monkey, and turtle. She laughs gleefully and gets the butterfly's head in her mouth, earning a glare from Cotton, who has removed the suction cups.) * [Cotton Puffy] "No, no, no, Roulette." (He pulls the toy away; switch to the monkey.) "No, no!" (Take it; switch to the turtle.) "No!" (This too is snatched up, and Cotton gathers up all four toys.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Hmph!" (approaching open toy chest) "I'm the responsible one --" (dumping them in) "--and I said so." (He slams the lid down and goes into a lightning-fast blur of activity that leaves the chest wrapped with several turns of heavy chain and secured by padlock. However, he has barely finished securing it when a cheerful Blackjack glides past.) * [Cotton Puffy] "That goes for you too, Blackjack!" (He uses Quick Attack to catch him, but gets nothing. The second Quick Attack sends him smashed into a wall. Getting up and fed up with the all the playtime, he leaps forward and actually gets his hands locked onto Blackjack's back hooves.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Gotch!" (He slowly starts to lift himself and him...) "I think?" (...and zooms ahead.) "Woah!" (Quick pan to the hallway, where his flight bounces the yelling babysitter off both walls. One swoop carries him toward the ceiling and down the stairs, his tail banging against every single one. One they go into the storage room; Blackjack drags him the full length of a counter so that he knocks over several trays of baked goods. After three pies have splatted against his face, he gleefully licks some the fruit filling away.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Mmm! Raspberry!" (His no-nonsense demeanor takes root again. Cut to just outside the storage room as Blackjack hauls him, now fully clean of pie filling, back and forth through the doors.) * [Cotton Puffy] "I'm -- not -- letting -- go! -- I'm -- re -- spon -- si --ble!" (He is also in for a very rough ride back up the stairs, but getting his chin bounced against them this time. Quick pan back to the nursery; as Blackjack flies in, the door swings shut and Cotton's cape gets tangled in the knob. It stretches out, then snaps him back to slam against the door. He slumps to the floor, having lost her hold on Blackjack, and the airborne colt makes his way over to Roulette's crib. Twin sister streches her hooves forlornly up toward him. She floats up to his level, and the two gurgle cheerfully and zoom off across the nursery as Cotton glances at them.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Oh, not you too!" (They swoop and dive and end up looking at each other, before Cotton lunges with a crazed grin and a playpen. This is clapped over them upside down, and in no time he has procured a roll of tape and wraped several turns to anchor it to the floor. Throwing the tape over one shoulder, he leans over the playpen with an even more unhinged grin.) * [Cotton Puffy] "There! Now who's the responsible one?" (The twins have no immediate answer. Roulette performs her magic and walks through the netting. Her happy yell throws massive shock to Cotton's face; seeing her gallop around, Blackjack follows up by lifting off with enough force to snap the tape strands. The playpen goes flying, as does Blackjack, and the freaked-out guppy looks over to see Roulette telekinetically break the chains on the toy chest and flip it open to get at the fun stuff. A cheer, a shower of toys, and starts gnawing on her turtle.) (By now, Cotton's irises and pupils have contracted to paralyzed points, his mane half-frazzled, and he looks as if he might faint. After a frantic glance here and there, his pupils dilate to ridiculous proportions behind brimming tears as he fights to keep his composure. He lost the fight, though, and explodes with a crying fit of his own; two waterfalls of tears gush from his eyes.) (His sobs and wails had stopped playtime; Blackjack descends down and Roulette sets the turtle down. Trading a look of remorse for the havoc they have been causing, they slowly walk/fly o.s. and return a moment later. Cotton stops crying as the camera zooms out slightly to frame three buckets with red, yellow, and blue paints levitated over the twins' heads. The smile broadly just before Roulette turns the buckets upside down, dumping the contents over themselves, looking like brown figures. He wipes his eyes and chuckles at the sight.) * [Cotton Puffy] "You know, you're right. That is funny." (Dissolve to an overhead close-up of the pair napping side by side in one crib, then cut to a side view and zoom out slowly across the nursery to frame him looking on with his arms crossed. He has put his hair back in order, and they have been cleaned up. He backs out of the room and turns the lights off. Cut to the foal-ravaged kitchen; he puts his head in. His expression falls.) (He trudges in, a bucket of water held; cut to a close-up of him, scrubbing a high chair. He stops to wipe his forehead with a relieved sigh, having finished cleaning up this chair. However, his mood deflates when the camera zooms out to frame the other high chair that still needs cleaning. Cut to the exterior of the mayor's home; it is now nighttime, and the Jupiters are on their way home. The mayor is pulling and empty cart.) (Close-up of the bell hanging above the entrance inside. The front door opens, jingling it; tilt down to frame the mayor looking in.) * [Mayor Jupiter] (voice raised) "Cotton Puffy! We're back!" (His wife steps in.) * [Mrs Jupiter] (flinching a bit) "How did everything go?" (Both their eyes go wide as she pulls in a shocked gasp; cut to their perspective, panning slowly across the shop floor. Every square inch of the place from floor to ceiling is spotless and sparkling. Back to the bewildered couple.) * [Mayor Jupiter] "I...I can't believe he did this!" * [Cotton Puffy] (from o.s.) "Shhhh!" (Floating at the top of the stairs, he tosses them a knowing smile while glancing briefly over his shoulder. Cut to the twins, still sleeping in their cribs, and tilt up slightly to frame the open nursery door. All three peek in around the frame and kept their voices slightly lowered.) * [Mrs Jupiter] (gasping) "Cotton! This is just...just..." * [Mayor Jupiter] "Amazing!" (All back off; cut to the hallway.) "We had no idea how responsible you really are." (A nod and smile pass between them, marking the idea that has struck both at once.) * [Mayor Jupiter] "Would you be interested in becoming our go-to babysitter on a permanent basis?" (Cotton gasps in full shock, then manages a smile.) * [Cotton Puffy] "Hmmm...heh, let me check my schedule." (He pulls out a notebook.) "I should be available a week from..." (dropped it) "Never!" (A contented double sigh draws his gaze back into the nursery so that he can see the toddlers, each of them says one word in their sleep.) * [Blackjack] "Cotton..." * [Roulette] "...Puffy." (Hearing his own name from the pair -- perhaps their first words -- have made the guppy gasp in silence. He sighs happily.) * [Cotton Puffy] (turning to face the Jupiters) "I have some free time next Friday." (Fade to black.) End of episode.